Roses and Remembrances
by Quallianmaghouin
Summary: 60 years into the future, the Titans are remembered by their last surviving teammate


Authors notes: Disclaimer. The Titans own themselves. Disney's version of the Titans however as far as I'm concerned are fair game. I don't own them, I'm not making any money off them, and Disney doesn't need to sue me for all of eighteen cents I have to my name, unless they want eighteen cents *and a roll of half-used ductape. Warning: uhm, lots of character death, a wee bit of implied slash (Disney provoked me!), and it's a future story, set in 2031. I tried telling the muse that there were enough Alan stories out there, and the other players were probably starting to feel jealous by now, but she insisted, and you know how pointless it is arguing with the muse. I promise a Sunshine story next. Thanks to Staedtler's review telling me to add more detail. I did the best I could, while still trying to keep this relatively short  
  
  
  
Roses and Remembrances   
-QM  
  
  
The old man lovingly placed each rose on the dirty, scarred bleachers, mumbling a name to himself as he lay down each flower. There were so many roses, so many names. The few people who ventured out that night just shook their heads and kept walking. He was a harmless old coot as far as they were concerned. And he didn't seem to be hurting anyone, so they just left him to his roses.  
  
Alan Bosely hugged the old battered jacket closer to himself. Nights seemed colder now than he remembered them, and so much more lonely. Things had certainly changed in sixty years.  
  
As Alan looked around the empty field he ran his fingers through his now white hair. So different. graffiti covered almost everything. Ranging from the "So and So 'wuz' here" and spray painted declarations of love, to gang symbols and discriminating phrases. There was even a very detailed instruction, telling Alexandria exactly where it could shove itself. The grass was overrunning the field, no good for playing on anymore. You would have to spend half of the game just looking for the football among the weeds. Broken beer bottles and cigarette butts littered the ground.   
  
The only people who came out here anymore were homeless people, and a few years ago drug pushers. Even the occasional brave teenage couple would sneak out here. It was the teenagers who gave the T.C. Williams field it's new nickname. "Titan's Tumble". Coach would have had a fit if he had heard that.   
  
To Alan it was if someone had defiled sacred ground. He knew he was just getting to be a romantic slop in his old age, but he longed for how he remembered this field to look, to smell. Fresh cut grass, leather, and sweat. Now it smelled of decay, dust, and piss.   
  
How those white uniforms seemed to glow in the sun, and how you had to squint your eyes from the glare of the metal bleachers. Alan remembered when Coach had made them spend the whole night cleaning those bleachers. The whole football team, on hands and knees scrubbing the metal until it shone. All because Lewie had left a tootsie roll wrapper on a bleacher. Lewie had later joked that he never could eat a tootsie roll after that. But those bleachers had never looked as clean. Now they were a grimy black, rusted through in spots.   
  
The field was a crumbling ruin of what it once was. A ruin of a forgotten, greater time. 1971. The year the Titans had a perfect season. The year they won the State championship. It was the year that black and white had blurred, becoming a shade of gray. 1971 was the Year of the Titans  
  
  
Had it really been 60 years? So much had changed. Alexandria had grown, enjoyed a few booming years, dwindled, and eventually gave up the ghost. That was the fate of most old fashioned towns nowadays. You either move with the times or you get rolled over by them. They closed T.C. Williams almost 30 years ago. Said it would have been too expensive to bring the school up to the new, stricter safety codes the state enforced. Especially when there was a newer, better school in the next town. And when the school was abandoned so was the football field.  
  
Alexandria finally decided it was time to tear it down. They wanted a mall. The contractors said it would make Alexandria rich again. Alan thought it was just whipping a dead horse, and said so. Loudly. That didn't stop it though, demolition was scheduled for tomorrow. Alan knew tonight would be the last night he would be able to remember his friends. Oh he would always remember them, that wouldn't change. But this field was the only place where his memories felt alive. He almost expected them to come dancing on to the field, like they had done so many times. They must have done it a hundred times at least in that first weekend alone. Rev. was determined they were going to learn how to dance. He said it would intimidate the other teams. They were supposed to think that if the Titans had enough time to learn how to dance, they were too good to spend their time practicing football. Alan had always thought Rev. just wanted to see them make a fool of themselves.   
  
He expected to see Lewie and Blue trading momma jokes. That was their pre-game ritual. Every time Blue would think he finally beat Lewie. But Lastic always had the last laugh.  
  
He expected to see Gerry and Big Ju butting heads over something. Those two could always find something to fight about. That's why they were such good friends. Good friends never have to pussy foot over each others feelings.  
  
He expected to see Sunshine patiently trying to teach Petey Tai chi while Petey tried to teach Sunshine the value of playboy magazines. After a few years though, they both gave up and labeled each other as a hopeless cause, at least as far as meditation and magazines were concerned.  
  
He expected to hear Rev. singing. Rev. loved to sing. The nights were few and far between that you wouldn't hear his voice bouncing off the locker room walls after practice. The other Titans couldn't even get him to shut up when had strep throat.  
  
But now the deserted field was so quiet. Yeah, things had certainly changed, But the Titans never did.  
  
Eventually, they split up. You couldn't be a high school football player forever. Most of them had gotten a partial football scholarship at least. Julius' took him to The University of West Virginia. He played professionally for a few years, until a back injury forced him into retirement. With help from his teammates Lewie went to college, where he studied architecture. Rev, not surprisingly, became a gospel preacher. Everyone would make it a point to stop by his church, whenever they were near. Alan studied to be a teacher, and Spent over 25 years as a professor at Gettysburg College. Petey and Sunshine decided to room together at college. Petey studying law, and Sunshine acting. Sunshine liked to say they were both learning how to lie for a living. Gerry decided to go to the community college near Alexandria so he could be close to his family. He spent most of his time training. He said he was going to win an Olympic medal one day, and he did.   
  
It was because of Gerry that the team was reunited. In 1981 Gerry died in a car accident. Everyone went to his funeral, though later no one could remember exactly what was said. The Titans didn't want to say goodbye to one of their own in a cemetery. A cemetery was too somber, to sad. Gerry would have hated it. So instead they had gone to the football field. They hadn't planned it. But that's where everyone went. When Alan got there Petey and Sunshine were already sitting on the bleachers talking about how things used to be. One by one the others came. Soon they were all sitting around recounting their favorite stories. They remembered how Gerry had let a hundred crickets loose in the locker rooms as payback for a comment Big Ju made to him. For the rest of that season the Titans had to listen to those annoying bugs. They remembered how Gerry would yell at them from the sidelines, threatening to go out there and play himself if they didn't get their act together. And knowing Gerry, he would have too.  
  
That night the remaining team members sent Gerry off in a style befitting a Titan. With laughter, love and a few tears. Rev. led the singing like he always used to. It seemed silly. The Titans had been replaced by younger generations. But the team was more than just a football team. They were family. And you can't replace family. So they sang their old warm-up chant. They were still the Titans. They didn't leave until the sun rose, and only then reluctantly, with many hugs and promises of reunions soon. A rose was left on the bleachers for Gerry.  
  
Every year the " '71 Titans" as they were dubbed would come together to put a rose on the bleacher in memory of Gerry. They jokingly called it their "pilgrimage" and looked forward to it more every year. They were still close.  
  
  
There was always a rose on the bleachers when they left. But one year there were two. Coach Boone died in 1998 of a heart attack. That year they mourned for the man who had brought them together as a team.   
  
In 2001 two more roses were added, laid side by side. Petey, a successful lawyer had been on a business flight when his plane crashed. Everyone on board had died. Sunshine didn't hang around too long after Petey left. He just went to sleep one night and never woke up. The doctors didn't know why he died, but those who knew Sunshine said he had died of a broken heart.  
  
  
It was three years before they added another rose. Big Ju's. Victim of a hate crime. In 33 years, some things had never changed.  
  
As the years went by more roses were added, fewer were left behind to continue the tradition. Lastic, Blue, all the good old boys soon had their roses on the bleachers.   
  
Rev. was the last to leave besides Alan. Died of Lung Cancer. He had known for a few years though, ever since he told Alan to start leading the songs for him.  
  
For two years now Alan had been the only one to bring the roses. The only one who still remembered the Titans. And every year, dependable as ever, he would show up with an arm full of roses and a heart full of memories.   
  
Alan couldn't believe this was going to be his last pilgrimage. 50 years. He sat heavily on the bleachers, suddenly feeling tired. Some things never changed. After all these years, still sitting on the bench. His laugh echoed hollow through the abandoned field at the direction of his thoughts. All these years. God, he was so tired. But his pilgrimage wasn't over yet.   
  
For fifty years now they had sung the same song. Over the years the words slowly became quieter, weaker, as fewer and fewer people were there who remembered how it went. The victory chant turned into an nearly silent benediction. Alan started to sing, the familiar chant a whisper.   
  
"Everywhere we go,   
Everywhere we go.   
  
People want to know,   
People want to know.  
  
  
He could still remember the adrenaline rush he would get, running on to the field, clapping and singing. Ready to win.  
  
  
"Who we are,  
Who we are.  
  
So we tell them,  
So we tell them."  
  
  
Alan's eyes drifted close, the words dying on his lips. In his ear he heard faint voices, growing louder with every word.  
  
  
"We are the Titans,  
We are the Titans.  
  
  
A faint smile touched his lips, as the last rose tumbled from his fingers, falling to land by the others.   
  
  
"The mighty mighty Titans,  
The mighty mighty Titans."  
  
  
A lifetime and a second later, Alan opened his eyes. He was still on the football field. But it was no longer a crumbling ruin, The graffiti was gone, so were the bottles and cigarette butts. It was just like he remembered it in 1971. He could even smell the freshly cut grass. And on the field, in their uniforms, laughing and smiling, were his family. Gerry, Big Ju, Rev, Lastic, Blue, Petey and Sunshine, and the others. Not everyone, but all his family. They looked just like he remembered them that first year they were the Titans. Like they hadn't aged in 60 years. All of them were watching him.  
  
Sunshine threw a football at him, arm still good as ever. "So, are you just going to sit there or are you going to play?"   
  
As he stepped on to the field Rev., just like always, had started to sing. "Everywhere we go,…" The Titans had waited a long time, 50 years in fact, for this night. When the Titans would finally be reunited.  
  
That night The Titans danced themselves into eternity. 


End file.
